This
portion of the Home of the Civil War website is designed to provide the reader with a
brief insight into a little known aspect of the late Rebellion, The Naval War. While this
portion of the Rebellion is little discussed, both the Federal and the Confederate Navies
played a vital part in the war. The early establishment of the blockade and Farragut's
capture of New Orleans not only brought about the economic strangulation of the South but
also killed any hope the Confederates had of French intervention . The Navy also had a
critical role in the strategy that split the Confederacy by capturing the line of the
Mississippi.
In 1861 the US Navy was in a demoralized
condition with its 1,457 officers and 7,600 men scattered all over the globe. Less than
half of its 90 ships were ready for active service. Of its meager officer personnel, the
following defected to the South: 16 captains, 34 commanders, 76 lieutenants, and 111
regular and acting midshipmen (Miller, VI, 78). Abandonment of the Norfolk Navy Yard,
20-21 Apr.'61, resulted in the loss of 11 ships and 3,000 pieces of ordnance. After Gideon
Welles was appointed Sec. of the Navy, he and his assistant Sec., Gustavus V. Fox, built
the US Navy in four years from 23 to 641 ships of all types.